(Yicai Global) Dec. 6 -- Chinese issuance of high-yield dollar bonds reached an annual high of over USD5 billion last month as property developers turn to global markets to refinance their huge debts and balance their books before year end, according to research by Centaline Property Agency.

Domestic loans also rose sharply in November. In the week of Nov. 18 to 22, developers issued 62 percent more yuan bonds than in the previous week, reaching CNY9.7 billion (USD1.4 billion), according to financial data platform Wind.

The sector is groaning under an accumulated debt of CNY20.3 trillion (USD2.9 trillion), according to figures from the end of last year, much of which will be due between this and next year. In order to repay these prior debts, they must leverage new funds.

"November is a critical juncture," an industry insider told Yicai Global. "Many property developers will rush to start multi-channel financing at this time because they need to ensure that their cash balance figures at the end of the year are still sufficient, so as to produce an annual financial statement that is satisfactory to the capital market."

Developers will speed up collecting payments, reduce expenditure, such as cutting down on land purchases, and can even put off payment to suppliers until the following year to boost their cash balance sheets, the insider said.

So far this year the country's real estate developers have refinanced over USD65 billion, almost 50 percent more than the same period last year, according to Wind.

US dollar bonds have become one of the important financing methods for real estate companies, said Zhang Dawei, chief analyst of Centaline Property Agency. That is because the main domestic financing channels of banks and trusts is drying up as government regulations tighten to ease speculation.

The financing cost for issuing US dollar bonds can vary from between 6 percent and 15 percent, depending on the type of enterprise. There have been high-yield US dollar bonds with a coupon rate of more than 15 percent this year.